Super Mario 64 Stars of the Beast
SM64: Stars of the Beast is a ROM Hack made by Milgram355 released on May 25th, 2018. It contains 140 stars and has one of the highest number of stars required to battle against Final Bowser (referred as The Beast), because there are 140 obtainable stars before entering the 3rd Bowser Course that requires 121 stars (121/140 = 86%). It is qualified as a hard hack (according to many players: 5/5 difficulty) but not as difficult as some ROM Hacks like: "King Boo's Revenge", "Super Mario Treasure World", "SM64 Masters Challenge" etc. It is known for the use of slippery terrain and wind in many levels and there are very well hidden stars, turning it into a peculiar and annoying game. The difficulty increases as you challenge the 2nd Bowser Course and increases more in the last 6 Courses (called "The Big Six"), especially getting their 100 coins stars. This hack has some references, most notably Iron Maiden, and there are level designs that are references to Mario Party and Pokémon. There is a sequel, released in the following year (December 13, 2019) called "Stars of the Beast 2: Legend of the Crystal Stars". Extras The Readme text when you download the hack, one part contains some challenges to try: * Get 100 coins star in Course 11 (obviously improvising). * Get 100 coins star and Red coins star (both together) in Course 14, but savestateless (and you can try this with Course 15 too). * Find where the level which replaces the End Cake Picture slot is. * Get all 140 stars savestateless. Curious facts to know: # There is only one cannon in all the game which is in Windy Vanilla Dome. # The enemy called "Pokey" doesn't appear even when there are two desert stages. # Course 4's name is an obvious reference to Divine Comedy, and if you read the sign within Bowser in the Infernal Sky, it tells you about a purge and a paradise, these are references to that book too. # The name of 6th star in Course 5, the rainbow circles in the sky, the wing cap music and the flying concept is a reference to a Mario Party 2 mini-game called "Sky Pilots". # Course 9 is based on the concept of Ninetales (Pokémon), which ever since the 7th generation started, has a fire and ice forms. # The names of 1st and 4th stars in Course 10 are references to Iron Maiden (one to a Powerslave album, and the other one to a phrase used by Steve Harris "Up the irons", later considered as a slogan of the band). # The 4th star in Course 12 is a reference to a Slayer's song, called "Raining Blood". # The name of the 5th star which is related with the color of the lava in Course 13 is a reference to Deep Purple and their song "Burn". # Rainbow of the Damned is inspired in Children of the Damned. And also, when you read the sign within Bowser in the Infernal Sky, it refers to Bowser as "The evil that men do", another Iron Maiden song. This goes with the 6th star name in Course 14, "Aces High" which is a reference to a war plane over the city and another Iron Maiden song. Levels Music Category:2018 Hack Category:Hard Hack Category:Major Hack Category:Hacks with 140 Stars